08/17/1931
Seismologist Declares Earth Tension Relieved
By Tremors It won't happen again—not for a long time.
A scientist sent this word to El Paso Monday, following the earthquake early Sunday which shook and scared thousands of persons throughout the southwest.
"It will be a relatively long time before 'sufficient tension again is stored in the earth around El Paso to cause another tremor," Father A.W. Forstall, seismologist at Regis college, Denver, Colo., predicted.
Quakes are regarded as a release of tension stored in the earth, he explains.
Strains are termed faults, and, when the strain is broken, a quake occurs. It has been known that 'faults' existed in the El Paso area, similar to those in California and northern Mexico," said. Father Forstall.
It is impossible to forecast the intensity of quakes or the time of occurrence, he added.
The earthquake Sunday, the most severe in the memory of most El Paso residents, occurred at 4:41 a.m. and lasted about 45 seconds.
Report Second Shock
A second shock of less intensity was felt by Ft. Bliss weather office officials at 5:45 a. m. and a third at 6:35 a. m.
Accompanied by rumbling noises, the quake awakened the majority of El Paso residents.
Property damage was slight in El Paso, but extensive in Valentine, Tex., where buildings were destroyed.
Damage in Valentine was estimated at $75,000.
The tremor was felt throughout the southwest and in northern Mexico. No one was injured seriously.
Felt in Mexico
The main quake was of third degree intensity, and lasted 38 minutes, though not for that time over the whole area, which extended from Dallas, Tex., to Silver City. N.M, and hundreds of miles into Mexico.
Father Forstall said the tremor was just short of being “highly destructive.”
L.A. Nelson head of the department of geology at College of Mines and Arts, said the shocks probably were the “tail end” of intense disturbances in Mexico.
Has El Paso ever had an earthquake?
Posted by: mary sosa | August 25, 2011 at 11:09 PM